Appendix A — Chronology of Key Dates

1878-1899

1878	First Zionist agricultural colony in Palestine (Petah Tikva)
1882	25,000 Jewish immigrants begin to settle in Palestine, mainly from eastern Europe
1891	Baron Maurice de Hirsch, a German, founds the Jewish Colonization Association in London to aid Zionist settlers in Palestine
1896	Der Judenstaat, a book advocating the establishment of a Jewish state, is published by Austro-Hungarian Jewish writer Theodor Herzl
	Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) begins operations in Palestine
1897	Zionist Congress calls for a home for Jewish people in Palestine
	Pamphlet by founder of socialist Zionism, Nahman Syrkin, says Palestine "must be evacuated for the Jews".
	First Zionist Congress in Switzerland sets up the World Zionist Association (WZO) and petitions for "a home for the Jewish people in Palestine".

1900-1936

1901	Jewish National Fund (JNF) set up to acquire land in Palestine for the WZO; the land is to be used and worked solely by Jews.
1904	Tensions between Zionists and Palestinian farmers in Tiberias area
1904–1914	40,000 Zionist immigrants arrive in Palestine; Jews now total 6% of the population.
1905	Israel Zangwill states Jews must drive out the Arabs or "grapple with the problem of a large alien population ..."
1907	First kibbutz established
1909	Tel Aviv founded north of Jaffa
1911	Memo to Zionist Executive speaks of "limited population transfer".
1914	World War I starts
1917	Balfour Declaration; British Secretary of State pledges support for "a Jewish national home in Palestine".
	Ottoman forces in Jerusalem surrender to British General Allenby
1918	Palestine occupied by Allies under Allenby
	World War 1 over, Ottoman rule in Palestine ends
1919	First Palestinian National Congress in Jerusalem rejects Balfour declaration, demands independence
	Chaim Weizmann, of the Zionist Commission at the Paris Peace Conference calls for a Palestine "as Jewish as England is English" Other Commission members say "as many Arabs as possible should be persuaded to emigrate".
	Winston Churchill writes "there are Jews, whom we are pledged to introduce into Palestine, and who take it for granted that the local population will be cleared out to suit their convenience".
1919–1933	35,000 Zionists immigrate to Palestine. Jews now total 12% of the population and hold 3% of the land
1920	Founding of Hagana, Zionist underground military organisation
	Britain is assigned the Palestinian Mandate by the Supreme Council of San Remo Peace Conference
1921	Protests in Jaffa against large-scale Zionist immigration
1922	League of Nations Council approves Britain's Mandate for Palestine
	British census of Palestine: 78% Muslim, 11% Jewish, 9.6% Christian, total population 757,182
1923	British Mandate for Palestine officially comes into force
1924–28	67,000 Zionist immigrants come to Palestine, half of whom are from Poland, raising Jewish population to 16%. Jews now own 4% of land
1925	In Paris the Revisionist Party is founded, which insists on the founding of a Jewish state in Palestine and Transjordan
1929	Riots in Palestine over claims to the Wailing Wall, with 133 Jews and 116 Arabs killed, mainly by British
1930	International Commission founded by the League of Nations to establish the legal status of Jews and Arabs at the Wailing Wall.
1931	Irgun (IZL) founded to support more militancy against Arabs
	Census shows total population of 1.03 million, 16.9% Jewish
	British director of development for Palestine publishes report on "landless Arabs" caused by Zionist colonization
1932	First regularly constituted Palestinian political party, the Istliqlal (Independence) Party, founded
1935	Arms smuggling by Zionist groups discovered at Jaffa port
1936	A conference of Palestinian National Committees demands "no taxation without representation".

1937-1947

1937	Peel Commission recommends partition of Palestine, with 33% of the country to become a Jewish state. Part of the Palestinian population is to be transferred from this state.
	British dissolve all Palestinian political organisations, deport five leaders, establish military courts against rebellion by Palestinians
1938	Irgun bombings kill 119 Palestinians. Palestinian bombs and mines kill 8 Jews
	British bring reinforcements to help suppress rebellion
1939	Zionist leader Jabotinsky writes: "... the Arabs must make room for the Jews in Eretz Israel. If it was possible to transfer the Baltic peoples, it is also possible to move the Palestinian Arabs."
	British House of Commons votes in approval of a White Paper which plans conditional independence of Palestine after 10 years and the immigration of 15,000 Jews into Palestine each year for the next 5 years
	World War II begins
1940	Land Transfer Regulations come into force, protecting Palestinian land against Zionist acquisition
1943	Five-year limit planned in White Paper of 1939 extended
1945	World War II ends
1947	Britain tells newly formed UN that it will withdraw from Palestine
	UN appoints committee (UNSCOP) on Palestine
	UNSCOP recommends partition
	November 29: UN adopts Resolution 181 on partition of Palestine
	Mass expulsion by the Jews of the indigenous Palestinian Arabs begins

1948

Jan		'Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni returns to Palestine after ten-year exile to form a group to resist partition
	20	Britain plans to hand over areas of land to whichever group is predominant in the region
Feb		War breaks out between Jews and Arabs
	18	Hagana announces military service and calls up 25–35 year old men and women
	24	US delegate to UN announces that the role of the Security Council is peacekeeping rather than enforcing partition
Mar	6	Hagana announces mobilization
	10	Plan Dalet, the Zionist blueprint for the cleansing of Palestine, finalised
	18	President Truman pledges support to the Zionist cause
	19–20	Arab leaders decide to accept a truce and limited trusteeship rather than partition, as suggested by UN Security Council. Jews reject the truce
Mar 30–May 15		Coastal "clearing" operation undertaken by Hagana, expelling Palestinians from the coastal area between Haifa and Jaffa
Apr	1	First delivery of Czech arms arrives for Hagana; includes 4,500 rifles, 200 light machine guns, 5 million rounds of ammunition
	4	Plan Dalet launched by Hagana. Villages along the Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem road captured and residents expelled
	9	The massacre of Deir Yassin
	17	Security Council resolution demands a truce
	20	Palestine trusteeship plan submitted to UN by US
	22	Haifa cleansed of its Palestinian population
	26–30	Hagana attacks an area of East Jerusalem, and are forced to hand it over to the British. Hagana captures an area of West Jerusalem. All Palestinians in West Jerusalem expelled by the Jewish forces
May	3	Report claims that between 175,000 and 250,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes
	12–14	Czech arms arrive for Hagana
	13	Arab Legion attacks Jewish communities in retaliation for Jewish military action
		Jaffa surrenders to Hagana
	14	Israel declares independence as British Mandate ends.
		President Truman recognizes State of Israel
	20	Count Bernadotte appointed as UN mediator in Palestine
	22	UN Security resolution demands ceasefire
Jun 11–Jul 8		First Truce established
Jul	8	Fighting breaks out anew as IDF capture Lydd and Ramla
	17	IDF launch an offensive but fail to capture Old City of Jerusalem
Jul 18-Oct 15		Second Truce established, broken by the capture of several villages by IDF
Sep	17	UN mediator Count Bernadotte assassinated by Jewish terrorists in Jerusalem. New UN mediator is Ralph Bunche
Oct	29–31	Thousands of Palestinians are expelled during Operation Hiram
Nov	4	UN Security Council calls for immediate truce and withdrawal of forces.
		UN adopts Resolution 194 on Palestinian refugee right of return
		Israel blocks return
		IDF begins to expel villagers from settlements inside the Lebanese border

1949

Feb		Between 2000 and 3000 villagers expelled from the Faluja pocket by IDF
	24	Israeli–Egyptian Armistice
Mar	23	Israeli–Lebanese Armistice
Apr	3	Israeli–Jordanian Armistice
Jul	20	Syrian–Israeli Armistice